°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ

Subscribe options

Select your newsletters:

Please enter your email address:

@

Your email address will only be used for the purpose of sending you the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ Organization publication(s) that you have requested. °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ Organization will not transfer your email address or other personal data to any other party or use it for commercial purposes.

If you change your mind, you can easily unsubscribe by clicking the unsubscribe option at the bottom of an email you've received from °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ Organization.

For more information, see our Privacy policy.

News & Media

Latest °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ Newsline

  • Fusion supply chain | A glimpse into the future for commercial fusion reactors

    Most of the USD 7 billion in investment in private fusion initiatives has gone to companies that are building devices from the ground up. But recently, another [...]

    Read more

  • Outreach | °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ @ October science festivals

    Every October, before schools pause for two weeks of holiday, towns and cities in France open their municipal spaces to scientific experts of all stripes who ar [...]

    Read more

  • Image of the week | °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ Director-General visits Russia

    The °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ Director-General was in Russia last week, meeting with stakeholders and holding technical meetings with colleagues in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. As [...]

    Read more

  • Image of the Week | Sector 5 is on its way

    The first vacuum vessel sector produced in Europe travelled last week between Monfalcone, Italy, and the French port of Fos-sur-Mer. The 440-tonne component had [...]

    Read more

  • Anniversary | °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ Document Management system turns 20

    Whatever its nature, every large project generates huge numbers of documents. And when project collaborators operate from different countries, as was the case f [...]

    Read more

Of Interest

See archived entries

Second test convoy, with maritime leg this time

Pushed by a tug boat, the 80-metre barge coupled with a 65-metre pontoon will ferry the trailer and dummy load across the inland sea Étang de Berre. (Click to view larger version...)
Pushed by a tug boat, the 80-metre barge coupled with a 65-metre pontoon will ferry the trailer and dummy load across the inland sea Étang de Berre.
In September last year, at the time of the first °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ Itinerary , the crossing of the inland sea Étang de Berre had to be cancelled: the barge that was to ferry the trailer and its 600-tonne dummy load was stranded in Turkey because of weather conditions.

A second test convoy campaign, focusing this time on the rehearsal of logistics and timing, is scheduled from 31 March to 4 April. Weather permitting, the maritime leg of the journey should be one of the most spectacular parts of the operation.

In order to ferry the components from Fos harbour, on the Mediterranean Sea, to Port-de-la-Pointe, on the north-eastern shore of the Étang de Berre, a combination of conventional barge and heavy-lift pontoon will be used. The 26-kilometre voyage will take four hours.

On Wednesday 12 March, a representative of DAHER, °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ's Global Transport, Logistics and Insurance Service Provider, presented a captivating animation to the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ community on how the barge and pontoon will operate, and how the trailer and its 600-tonne dummy load will be loaded and unloaded (see attached ).

François Genevey is the project director for the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ contract at DAHER. "The crucial moments in the port operations are when the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ loads are rolled onto and off of the barge. An electronic ballasting system will ensure that the barge and the pontoon maintain their full stability during the transfer of the charge."

Once the maritime leg of the journey is past, the trailer will commence its slow and careful ride to the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ site just as it did six months ago.

This time, instead of verifying how critical points along the Itinerary hold up under the load, operators from DAHER and Agence Iter France will test the complex logistics involved (more than 200 people will take part in the operation) and validate the projected timing for the transportation of the most taxing of the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ components in terms of size and weight.

Of a projected 250 Highly Exceptional Loads (HELs) to be delivered to the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ site, approximately 30 belong in that category.

But HELs are not all—close to 2,500 Conventional Exceptional Loads (CEL), and several thousand container-sized loads will travel the regular roads to the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ site between mid-2014 and end-2020.


return to the latest published articles